Jessie Ware's debut album heralds England's next pop superstar

A woman's echoing voice commands, "Listen!" A drum loop shudders. Over a swelling keyboard progression, a clear soprano rings out in a striking mix of pride and shame: "You and I, bloodlines, we come together every time." This is how Jessie Ware greets America.

"Wildest Moments," the song in question, is a startling ballad of ambivalent fidelity that took over American music blogs late last year. The spare, haunting video, which featured Ware in an elegant suit rotating slowly on a chair--fulfilling her vision "of a perfume ad directed by David Lynch"--has 10.5 million views on YouTube. One of Ware's first...